beginners guide – Passive Income Explorer

What's Your Affiliate Marketing Story... Imagine the scene.... View To Beach Two friends meet for breakfast on holiday. Each slightly preoccupied with their own thoughts. Sitting there at the outdoors table with the sun starting to get warm... The sea gently lapping against the golden sandy shoreline.... 'It's going to be a hot one...' says john. 'Yeah feels like it ' replies Robert. 'You all right, you seem a bit preoccupied' asks John. ' Yeah i'm fine, just trying to remember whether I told James to send the info to Sarah, I had better email - just to make sure' says Robert. These two friends have known each other for over twenty years. Robert, usually the calm relaxed one, over the last few years has become more and more stressed, more preoccupied with work. On the other hand John had been working hard and seems to have backed off in the last few years. ' You work too hard nowadays, you need to learn to relax' John says laughing. 'it's alright for you, you're self employed - you can do what you like' comes the reply from Robert. I've had to work to cover for this holiday, I have project deadlines to keep and it's getting tighter on timescales, I hope everyone will pull their weight while I am away. I know last time i went back to chaos, it took me two weeks to sort the mess out , along with doing my normal work, i hope this time is different' Robert continues with a sigh. 'you seem pretty relaxed , what's changed?' asks Robert. 'well i now have things flowing, and it's pretty good' says john , with a smile crossing his face. 'wish it was like that for me - remind me what you do, i know it's something on the internet, but what exactly' questions Robert. ' i was able to check on my business before breakfast this morning and things are still going well, it can run itself for the rest of the holiday, i'm here to enjoy myself. I am still doing the affiliate marketing and loving it, it's something i really enjoy doing. It was hard at the start, setting it up, but the rewards.... A few hours a week keeps it ticking over' replied John. R: 'but isn't it difficult to do?' J: ' there is a lot to it, but it can be broken down into section. It takes a lot of work to start it, as i said, but i am reaping the rewards now and helping more people.' R: 'so what exactly is affiliate marketing' J: ' well... i can explain it all , but not today. Affiliate marketing is a bit like being a commission based salesperson' R: ' but i am an engineer, i cannot sell, i am not a salesman' J: ' have you ever said to others about a product you have bought and thought that it was perfect for them, save them time and make their life easier' R: ' well, yeah, remember i told you about that phone that could learn your habits without you setting it up to prevent you missing things' J: ' yeah, i never tbought it, but brett did, and if he had bought it through a link on your website then you would have got a percentage of the final sale. R: ' damn, i wish i had known that, but i can't setup a website. J: ' you can learn, with the systems out there now, it is easy - almost too easy. A couple of clicks and you can have the framework for your site for you to customize' R: 'sounds intriguing, how could i start...if i wanted to' J: ' affiliate marketing can be broken down broadly into four sections. choosing something you can help people with and preferably something you know about - create a site with useful content and answer problems about the topic, put this site in front of people who are interested and setup links to product that will solve the problems for you to get your affiliate fee when someone purchases. R: ' and that's it, it sounds really easy - why isn't everyone doing it?' J: ' yeah...that's broken down to it's simplest form. Let's talk about choosing something you know about to help people - your niche. How to do it, what to check for, is it viable, can you make money from it?' R: ' that would be useful, especially the last bit' J: ' you don't want to be too concerned about that, especially at the start ' R: ' but isn't that the point of affiliate marketing?' J: ' yeah, it is the end result, but you need to get known. It is almost like a friendship, a relationship : Would you go up to a girl and say ' would you marry me' - the chances are that you would get rejected. So what you have to do is to attract them with something, so they notice you, hang on a minute we're getting ahead of ourselves, we were talking about finding what you want to help people with' R: ' yeah, but the attraction is important, right' J: ' right...everything is important, all the pieces of the puzzle must be in place for the busines to run smoothly, but you need to break it down and learn each section …and then put it together.' R: ' ok, so what to promote and to whom is important' J: ' yeah…as it is a long term business, not a get rich quick scheme, depending on what you choose, to get organic traffic - traffic from search engines like google from your content featuring in the searches - you may be creating content regularily for a few months or even a year before there is enough to make is sustainable.' R: ' a year....' J:' yep, if the niche is competitive then you will need to force yourself between who is already there and create your own space, find your voice.' R: ' but isn't it like putting up a shop, full of products, and people come and buy through you?' J: ' Ask yourself, 'why would someone come to your shop in the first place?' if you typed into a search engine 'canon camera', as you are in the market for a new camera. The search engine returns relevant results on what it determines your intent is. So from this query, 'canon camera', you could be looking for information, or you could be lookng to buy. So the results may be mixed, with articles like '10 best canon cameras ' and ecommerce stores trying to beat each other on price ( that's the only thing a pure shop has to bargain with , is price) So getting back to what you want to pick as a niche. Something you know, something you have an interest in and want to learn, something you are good at and people come to you for advice on. R:' ok, so like my interest in learning the guitar?' J: ' yeah, you know what you want to learn, in your head, but learning the guitar is a journey of a thousand roads. it could be classical, jazz,rock, blues you want to end up playing. the start is the same ( except for bass guitar and 12 strings) and the various bits are the same, but after the basics of what bits are on a guitar, the learning paths will be different to get to the end result as quick as possible. You don't want to learn rock guitar and bending the strings if you want to end up playing Spanish music. So what end result are you looking at for learning guitar, what can you see in your mind, who are you becoming, who is your hero? R: ' i want to play like Jeff Beck J:' ah...so more of a rock theme rather than blues or jazz R: ' yeah J: ' ok... so you could start learning and record yoursef, would you be happy putting yourself out there? R:' so others could see it? J: 'yeah, the whole world, or at least those interested in learning to play rock guitar' R:' umm…i don't know' J: ' ok, so that is a fairly important as you have to be able to put your useful articles in front of your audience, so a bit of research to find out the popularity of learning rock guitar, are there forums, facebook pages, websites, where do the audience hang out, are they a buying audience, are they willing to spend money. R:' i didin't realize there was that much to it J: ' it can be quite involved or it can be simple. If you go the involved route, that includes all that we have talked about and more. Simple is, ' i want to learn guitar' and you then record your journey. People see you progress , see what you have used to progress, how much work it took to get there, how much it cost ad whether they see themselves in you. R:' so which is better? J: ' they are both good methods, although maybe a mix of both will give you the best chance of it being a 'quick' success. R: ' i thought you said this was a long term business' J:' 'quick' was a relative term. Looking into the niche allows you to be sure that there is a market, whether people are wiling to buy and what the competition is like. R:' so if there is too much competition... J: ' competition is good, it means there is a market there. If you find no one selling, you need to ask yourself why. Most things are being sold, so why not this - is it too new or is there no market for it? I do have a more in depth document for you to read and diges, if you are interested in choosing your niche. R:' yeah my brain is getting fried with all the info, i will never remember it' J:' that's ok, read it a couple of times, think of ideas and don't censor yourself - remember only you can see these ideas, and if it's something you are really passionate about then you won't become bored and give in. So maybe the 'learning the guitar - from what type of guitar onwards ' for a year, if you decide you want to go in front of the camera. R:' i will have a read and see J:' c'mon then, i reckon a trip into town and then the rest of the day swimming and on the beach We'll leave John and Robert there for now and if you want to get hold of a copy of how to choose your niche then tell me where to send it. Don't miss what niche Robert picks ,and find out whether he wants to go in front of the camera, sign up to be told when the next episode is available.